On Deck - Marie McKinney Chats About The Arrangement

 

The evening light is upon us and the fire table is lit. I have a special guest on the deck today so please welcome Marie McKinney. She used to be a counselor but her own mind turned her into a romance author. You will find the human drama that makes life interesting in the contemporary and paranormal romances she writes. 

I love the diverse characters from different backgrounds she creates and helps them fall in love. Her book,  After Paris captures all that plus emotional twists and turns with a second chance romance.

 

I’m so excited Marie has a new book out and she’s here today to tell us about it. The Arrangement was released in August. She has joined me at the high-top fire table for drinks. She’s enjoying a Vanilla Coke with Tennessee Honey Jack Daniels. I decided to have one too since I’m a sucker for Vanilla Coke. We have a bowl of Reese’s Peanut Butter cups between us. Marie and Flyboy share the love of these wonderful sweets. Lucky for us, he’s out flying thus leaving all the Reese’s for us!

 

Thanks for joining us, Marie. Since the temps are going down, I’m going dive right into this. I know you have After Paris and now the 1^st book in the Wilde Men series but how many books to you have prior to these?

 

The Arrangementis not my first book but it is only the second book I’ve written under my name. I started writing professionally as a ghostwriter in 2012 and did that for a few years until that little voice in the back of my head said, “Enough. Don’t you want to see your name on your work?” In all I’ve probably written somewhere in the neighborhood of fifteen or sixteen books. I’m not real sure since once it’s approved by the client, I’d ceremoniously let it go, delete the file, say goodbye and move on. A nice little figurative trashcan fire of my ex’s things. 

 

I’ll drink to that! *We clink glasses and take a drink* It’s crazy how the mind works. What inspired you to write your latest book, The Arrangement?

 

Usually the characters come to me before the story, with this one though, it was the other way around. I wanted to write an arranged marriage trope but make it modern day and realistic. The only scene I “borrowed” from real life is the opening scene with Maggie at work and her customers chanting “salad, salad” at her. My niece worked as a waitress while putting herself through med-school and was always blessed with the most interesting customers. The restaurant Black Tin Roof will show up from time to time and most of that comes from her fabulous rendition of life in the service industry.

 

I love basing fiction on the reality in my life. Good for your niece and her inspiration. Do you give her a cut of the fame?

 

No she doesn’t get royalties, but I do give the best Christmas presents. Lol. 

 

I’d rather have the wonderful gifts. LOL Sounds like you have a nice arrangement. LOL See what I did there. LOL How did you come up with the title, TheArrangement?

 

Laziness was my inspiration, lol. “The Arrangement” for a story about an Arranged Marriage.

 

I think it sounds a little dirty, in a sexy way. I love your character names, Magdalena and Aidan. How do you come up with your characters’ names?

 

Sometimes it just comes to me and those times I have to be careful and check my long list of already used character names to make sure I’m not double dipping, or repeating consonants. Once I had a Diana, Deirdre and Daniel all in the same book, no lie. Apparently, that month was represented by the letter “D.” When I’m stuck on a new name, usually the character’s backstory helps me. Even if that backstory isn’t used in the actual novel. Magdalena and her sisters Miriam and Guinevere had a young mom who fantasized about being rescued by Robin Hood or a literal knight in shining armor hence the names. 

 

Oooh, I love the story behind the story, or I should say…the story behind the name. Hey, if you could have any movie star take on a role of one of your characters who do you think it would be?

 

AHhh. I don’t know! I never visualize my characters as actors or actresses. I know, I’m the only one in the world. They always appear in my mind’s eye as themselves, though, so I really don’t know.

 

Come to think of it, my characters look more like regular people than movie starts. Anyways… back to your writing. How naughty do you get with your stories?

 

I consider myself pretty middle of the line. I don’t fade out and close the door but I’m not pulling out whips and chains and making them beg in excruciating detail. There are sex scenes, they get pretty steamy, there’s a lot of build-up and intimacy even when they’re not having sex. But I think everyone has their own way of rating so my just enough might be someone else’s whoa buddy. Only one way to find out, hint hint, nudge nudge. Lol. 

 

The build-up makes a scene even more intense and sexy. Yes, friends, you need to dive into The Arrangement to find out! Now, Marie, you like to take readers on an emotional ride and do it well. What would you say were difficult scenes to write?

 

The second chapter when her sisters are getting loaded into a car and taken away. That scene took the longest because it punched me in the cry-box every time. Especially when Maggie settles her little sister who has Autism and sends her off, knowing she can’t explain why they’re not going together. I have an eight-year-old on the spectrum and I might have over-personalized the moment, imagining how he might feel.

 

Personal things like that pull a reader in. As an author, I know how research goes when writing so what is the strangest thing you’ve Googled while working on a story?

 

This story was pretty tame. The wackiest it got was putting together the Kilabarian language. But I have had stories that would get me convicted on an episode of CSI. The strangest thing I’ve ever googled for a novel was “How much of the body remains after a house-fire.”

 

Hopefully “big brother” isn’t watching you. LOL Do you have any rituals to must haves while you are writing?

 

Each book is different. I’ve had books where I’ve had to write it the old-fashioned way, pen and paper. Then there were books where I powered through with chocolate and snacks. Luckily those are few and far between. The Arrangement wanted to wake me up in the middle of the night for just one more scene that could not wait. All my recent work, though, does not get started or completed without my grandmother’s picture siting right in front of me.

 

Okay…now for some fun stuff. What’s your favorite food?

 

Ice cream. Any. All. Vanilla with sprinkles. Birthday cake. Chocolate Chip cookie dough. Ooo Ben and Jerry’s used to have this flavor: sweet cream ice cream with cashews but they were coated in something first. If I had a genie, I’d completely waste a wish on bringing that sucker back. 

 

Oh, girl… we are going to be best friends! I have a freezer dedicated to ice cream! LOL What is your favorite thing to wear?

 

Leggings

 

Yes! Nothing is better than wearing leggings and curling up with a good book such as The Arrangement. Where is you favorite place to read?

 

I live in the south, there are very few days I have the need for a fireplace. Still. I imagine curling up on my couch in front of a roaring fire, reading away. In reality it’s my bed. Lol.

 

You need to visit my log home in the wood in the middle of winter. Flyboy will build us a nice fire in the fireplace, make us Jack and vanilla cokes, and make sure we have cuddly blankets handy. Oh, Flyboy wanted me to ask you, what place would you like to visit some day?

 

It’s on my bucket-list to write underneath an Irish sunrise. Or sunset. Ireland and sun. Wildflowers. Fields.

 

Flyboy has been there and said it’s definitely worth it. Do you have any special words for your readers today?

 

Hi!! I hope you’re enjoying my novels as much as I’m enjoying releasing them to you. The best part about being an author is being able to share some small piece of a world I get to create with an infinite number of other people to appreciate. The second best thing is getting to hear what you think about it. Reviews are our (authors) life-blood. Feed me, Seymour. Lol. No, seriously, thank you for taking a chance on me.

 

Thanks for joining Marie McKinney and I on the deck. Sorry, we won't share the remaining Reeses with you, I'm letting Marie take the rest home. You can find Marie

 

Twitter and Instagram: @mckinney_writes

Website: ILoveTheWayYou.com

Check out MarieMcKinney’s Amazon Author Page

 

Please check out her latest book, The Arrangement, the 1^st book in the Wilde Men series.

 

When Magdalena was a little girl, the worse thing she could imagine was never knowing who her father was. Then she grew up and met him.
Now with the threat of what’s left of her family being ripped apart, she’s forced to wed his rival to stop a brewing war from imploding a world she never knew existed.

When the girl he’d pledged to marry was murdered, Aidan Wilde swore he would never share his life with anyone else. He promised her he’d dedicate every breath to ruining her killer. Who would have thought that in order to do the second he’d have to break his promise about the first? But that doesn’t mean he’s going to give away his heart.

He’s not the husband she wanted but he’s the one she needs.
She’s not the wife he wanted but she’s the one he’s owed.
Together Magdalena and Aidan could be a force to be reckoned with.
But first they have to get out of their own way.

 

The Arrangement on Amazon 

 

 Pick it up now to read while waiting for the 2nd book, Stay coming in November.

 

 

Brighton Bad Boys - Ba-Ba-Bad to the Bone

Yesterday we had a bit of fun having coffee with Tilly Delane, author of the Brighton Bad Boys series.

Some of Tilly's favorites:

Favorite drink: coffee, strong, white, no sugar.

Favorite candy: jelly bellies.

Favorite food: my mum’s tomato soup with all the extras.

Favorite article of clothing or jewelry: because of what I do in my day job, I don’t wear jewelry or accessorize, so I’d have to say: anything that has enough pockets. Pockets are the most important aspect of any item of clothing.

Favorite place to read: in bed.

Place you want to visit some day: Outer Mongolia.

 Now, as promised...

Brighton Bad Boys Book Blurbs

SILAS
 A Fighter Romance
Brighton Bad Boys, Book 1

Silas
When I look into my future it’s like looking down the barrel of a gun.
Trying to pay back a debt that was never yours, a hopelessly fractured family, and betrayal by those you trusted the most will do that to a man.
Most days I just survive. Alone.
The guys at TripleX, the club that hosts the biggest illegal fight league in England, where I fight and bounce, all know that I keep myself to myself.
I don’t do hanging around after lock up to pick up drunk girls from the bar upstairs.
I don’t do staff drinks.
I don’t do socials.
I don’t do going to the gym together.
I don’t do friendship.
I work, I get paid.
I fight, I get paid.
End of involvement.
The irony is, there is nothing in Brighton, the seaside city that I call my home, or in my life, actually worth fighting for.
Until Mum brings home a stray American.
A soft, curvy woman with bottle-red hair and green eyes and a mouth made for sucking.
And no matter how hard I try to ignore her, she’s there.
In my bed.

Grace
I’m here on a memorial tour for my mum - never mom, she was born British, and no matter how long she lived in Washington DC, she refused to be called mom.
I lost her a year ago, and it still hurts like crazy.
I saved up every penny I made since her funeral for this trip. Being here, in England, in Brighton, was supposed to help me keep her memory alive, to remember her and the stories she used to tell me.
But in true Grace style, I fall at the first hurdle.
The company I booked the hotel through has gone bust, the hotel never got my reservation and there isn’t a room to be had elsewhere in a ten-mile radius because of a small thing called the Brighton Festival.
I’m ready to sleep in the lobby when the head of housekeeping offers me a room in her house, at a rate I cannot refuse.
A room, it turns out, that smells of man in the best possible way.
And with the scent comes a fighter, brooding and beautiful, and about as lost as I am.
I want him.
Badly.
I just need to convince him that he’s worth the fight, and that maybe together we can find our way out of the woods.

BUY ON AMAZON

GOODREADS

________________________

ROWAN
Brighton Bad Boys Book 2

Rowan
When you’ve been to hell and back ─ and I don’t just mean the outer rings of hell, I mean the ring right at the centre of Hades, where gladiators like me fight for the entertainment of today’s Caesars and Caesarias ─ you come back a monster or a broken man. If you come back at all.
I’m neither.
I don’t know what I am.
I know I’m an addict.
I know I’m killer.
I know I’ve been running from myself since I was twelve years old and that at every turn since I’ve made lousy decisions.
Time to face myself in the mirror.
So I’m taking a trip to the peninsula of Purbeck, a beautiful nature reserve on the south coast of England, to enter rehab.
Can you rehabilitate a killer? Can you rehabilitate a broken beast?
I doubt it, but at least I’m willing to try.
The last thing I expected was to meet a soul as tortured as me, a woman whose eyes tell me she’s seen it, the ugliness of life.
And she can deal.
She won’t look away.
She is competence in a fifties retro package with fishnets and combat boots.
She’s my nurse.
And totally off limits.

Raven
I came out to meet the guy because he took longer than is normal. I thought he might have gotten lost. Though that’s pretty hard when going in a straight line down what was once the only road in a village. But it’s a rehab clinic. Folk are kinda lost by definition when they get here.
So I came to see what was taking him so long and found him going down on the water fountain.
I mean, seriously, the way he hulked over it, half his face under the stream, his tongue lapping at the water, was obscene, feral. So my smart mouth decided to make a comment. A wholly unprofessional comment, and now I’m standing here, mesmerised. Like Mowgli meeting Kaa.
‘Cause he’s staring me down like a pro.
I can’t look away from his eyes. They are huge, a deep, warm brown and they tell me stories too close for comfort. This is a guy who gets it. Life. The ugliness. The bits where other people play three monkeys. He sees them.
He sees me.
And I see him.
But he’s a client and that’s where the story ends.
It’s my last intake of guests.
In a month from now my year in the British Isles is over, I’ll hand over my job to a local, and I’ll be going home to America.
And I’m not getting fired in the meantime because of a ‘connection’ to some sexy giant with muscle for miles.
‘Connections’ are a myth.
And a myth is not worth getting fired over.

But what if there is more than a connection? What if there is actual healing?

BUY NOW ON AMAZON

GOODREADS

_______________________

DIEGO
BRIGHTON BAD BOYS BOOK 3

Kalina
I've been lusting after this guy for months.
George 'Diego' Benson is the forbidden fruit I cannot have.
Not without putting my mission in peril.
Not without putting my heart in peril.
But then we look into each other’s eyes across the distance between us.
And look.
And look.
My heart is racing.
My clit is pulsing.
My insides are clenching.
And suddenly I’m tired of the charade.
I like this guy.

I like him a lot.
Once my job here is done, I will never see him again.
So just this once I want to be with him, completely.
And I lunge.

Diego
Kissing her is like coming home.
Or how I always imagined coming home would feel like.
It’s relief and feeling safe.
It’s hot and sweaty and raw.
It’s warm and sloppy and comfy.
It’s leaving behind all pretence.
And a whole lot of tongue.
So much tongue.
So much hunger.
This girl is on fire.
For me.
Not for the danger, not for the perceived status, not for the money, but for me.
She’s not here to demurely please the boss and then cream off the top.
She’s here, in my lap, because that’s where she wants to be.
Where she belongs.

BUY NOW ON AMAZON 

GOODREADS

Author Spotlight - Tilly Delane and the Brighton Bad Boys

 

It’s a rainy day here in the woods so my special guest and I are enjoying coffee on the porch. I’m drinking a highly polluted wimpy java while she’s enjoying a strong Middle Eastern hipster favorite.

Speaking of favorites… who doesn’t love a dark, broody man with rock hard abs? How about three of them? The fact these hotties love their mum (Silas still lives at home) is a turn on! Our guest has a writing style that pulls you in fast and you won’t come up for air until the end. You’ll lose yourself in the compelling characters and intense romance. Make sure you give yourself plenty of time to read and maybe keep a snack handy because you won’t be able to stop.

Please welcome Tilly Delany and let’s pick her brain about her sexy new stories, the Brighton Bad Boys.

Now, Tilly, I hear you have another identity. Is it secret, like are you in the witness protection program, are you on the lamb or can you tell us about it? (Author laughs as she puts her coffee on the table).

Prior to the Brighton Bad Boys I’d already written and published four clean, contemporary, critically acclaimed YA  novels under my real name -  the debut of which came out seven years ago - but I fancied a stint away from the constrictions of writing for a younger audience, to show my erotic romance/thriller side. I cut my teeth in erotic writing under yet another nom de plume, Ava-Ann Holland, when I contributed some short stories to anthologies while working on my second and third YA novels - and I got a taste of the creative freedom erotic romance affords you. Although, like in every genre, there are certain conventions that readers expect (like the HEA or HFN ending) it’s actually one of the most flexible genres to play with, and I love that.

Wow… I totally understand why you’d want to have different names especially since you have such different fan bases.

My latest romance-thriller ‘Diego’ is the third book under my pen name Tilly Delane and completes the Brighton Bad Boys trilogy, which started with ‘Silas’ in June, followed by ‘Rowan’ in August. I wrote the entire series before rapid releasing them this summer.

That was smart. Readers these days can be very impatient; when they finish a story in a series they are starving for the next one. I know authors often draw from their own lives and experiences when they write. Some say reality feeds the imagination. What inspired you to write the Brighton Bad Boys series?

There are elements of my life and my experience in all my novels. Where the Brighton Bad Boys were concerned, I really wanted to set something in my chosen hometown for a change and bring some of my younger self’s predilection for hanging out with unsavory folks to the page. Before I moved to Brighton thirty years ago, I grew up in a German city that shall remain unnamed and hung around with a beautiful plethora of nightclub owners, drug dealers and wannabe career criminals for the formative years of my life. For the first half a decade after my move to the UK I stuck to that MO, so I feel pretty confident when I describe the underbelly of Brighton. I also gave a lot of myself to the character of Kalina, Diego’s lady, although it must be said that Kalina is - naturally - infinitely prettier and infinitely more badass than I will ever be.

Awww… don’t sell yourself short. You are pretty badass to create such amazing characters. I see you named the books after each bad boy. What’s the story behind the titles?

Silas, Rowan and Diego aren’t exactly the most imaginative titles, are they? (Laughs, then shrugs.) Naming books after the hero is a huge trend in the ‘bad boy romance’ genre and while I was happy to flaunt the rules between the covers and make the genre my own, I wasn’t going to upset the apple cart with radical new titles and covers.

Speaking of names, your heroes have some pretty strong and sexy names. How did you come up with them?

The main characters come fully fledged, name included, into my head. I sometimes have to consult my daughters on naming side characters but very rarely. Occasionally I might rename a character because I realize halfway through writing that their name is too similar to another character’s and that it may get confusing for the reader.

I accidentally created a hero’s brother with the name Jason. Their last name was Mason. Jason Mason… bad idea. (We pause while the cat joins us momentarily for a few pats.) How naughty would you say you get with your writing?

I love sex and my sex scenes are explicit and generally described as very hot, but at the same time I’m personally not a fan of BDSM. I’ve tried almost everything at one point in my life, but BDSM just does absolutely nothing for me, which is extra funny because once upon a time I even did a stint as the door tart in a BDSM club and the owner was forever trying to convince me to do a regular gig as dominatrix. So, upshot, to me ‘hot’ doesn’t equal spanking and bondage, hot in writing to me means that it’s believable between those two characters and that it fits with the rest of who they are.

The chemistry between your characters is amazing and the sexy scenes are off the chart steamy. I love how you managed to keep each couple’s dynamics fresh.

My three Brighton Bad Boys couples - Silas & Grace, Rowan &Raven and Diego & Kalina - have very different types of sexual relationships, formed by who they are, individually and to each other. And that’s what makes it hot for me. Without wanting to be crude, I know I’m doing alright when I barely make it through writing a paragraph before having to take a shower break.

All right then, let’s cool things down a bit. (Fans self) Some authors say writing the sexy bits is difficult. What would you say, were the hardest scenes for you to write?

There is some really harrowing stuff in both Rowan and Diego, not between the couples but as part of the wider story and some of that was immensely hard to write, but I can’t give away any details without spoilers. 

My lips are sealed, I won’t give away spoilers. But I must say, those scenes really keep the reader turning the pages. I took my kindle into the bathroom with me. I couldn’t bear to stop reading!!! Authors are known for doing their research and I can tell you certainly explored in depth to create your storylines. What was the strangest thing you’ve Goggled while working on a story.

Collar bombs.

LOL. I’m going to let readers Google that one! Other than quality research, authors have a tendency to have writing habits, routines or rituals. Some writers will go for a walk or do sit ups before sitting down. Others will have a glass of wine & chocolate handy. I know one writer who has a silly stuffed animal on her desk and can’t write without it. Do you have any rituals or “must-haves” while writing?

Some form of writing utensil helps: pen & paper, phone, computer, type writer - I’m not picky . I can write anywhere, under any circumstance, if the muse kisses me. While writing my first three books I didn’t even have a desk to have a stuffed animal on.

Thank you so much for joining Romantic Interludes today, Tilly. It’s been a lot of fun.

Thank you.

Do you have anything you would like to say to your readers?

Thank you for picking my guys over the gazillion others, thank you for giving some of your lifetime to my guys. It means EVERYTHING!

Join us tomorrow when I’ll be featuring teasers from 

the Brighton Bad Boys series.

The Brighton BadBoys

Silas

Rowan

Diego

All are available on KU

Visit Tilly Delane Amazon Author Page

Find Tilly Delane on 

Facebook

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